The player will be able to select the “readied” projectile with the Next Projectile
button. If the player quickly presses and releases this button, Sam will switch to the
next available projectile in his inventory, if any. If the player presses and holds the Next
Projectile button, the player will see a horizontal display of all the types of projectiles
currently in Sam’s inventory at the top of the screen, with the currently selected
weapon appearing in the center. The player can then use the left and right directional
controller to select previous and next projectiles, respectively, with the list of projec-
tiles sliding left or right accordingly. The list will “wrap around” such that the player
will be able to get to any projectile by pressing right or left repeatedly. Whatever projec-
tile is in the center of the screen when the player releases the Next Projectile button
will be Sam’s new readied projectile.
Once selected, the player will see Sam holding whatever the current projectile is. If
the player then does not throw the projectile or select a new readied one, after five sec-
onds Sam will appear to put the projectile away. This is so that, visually, Sam does not
appear to travel everywhere ready to throw a projectile. However, even if Sam does not
appear to have a projectile ready, hitting the Throw key will instantly throw the readied
projectile, just as quickly as if Sam had his arm out ready to throw.
Throwing the Projectile
The player will be able to throw Sam’s current projectile by using the Throw button.
The projectile will travel approximately in the direction the player is facing, though
Sam will not have to be “dead on” in order to hit a target; the game will auto-target his
shots at the closest adversary within the general direction Sam is facing. The current
target will be labeled with a cross-hair so that the player always knows what target Sam
will attack. It will be important to balance this auto-aiming so that it does not result in
the projectile hitting targets the player did not want to hit, or in making the game too
easy.
Throwing Speed and Distance
Releasing the Throw button will cause Sam to throw a projectile. A simple toss can be
accomplished by a simple press and release of the Throw button by the player. How-
ever, if the player holds down the Throw button, Sam will be able to throw the
projectiles faster and farther. This will be represented by Sam’s arm starting to spin
while the player holds down the Throw button, moving in a motion like a softball
pitcher’s windup, except continuing in a circle. Eventually, once Sam’s projectile is
going to leave his hand traveling at the maximum speed, Sam’s arm will appear as a car-
toon-style blur because it is revolving so fast. Though the auto-targeting will line up the
player’s shot with an adversary, if the player does not throw the projectile with enough
force it may fall short of hitting this target. Part of the game’s challenge for the player
will be making sure the projectile is thrown hard enough to reach its intended target.
Projectile Capabilities
All of the projectiles in the game will be able to disable different types of enemies. For
instance, the Goo-Ball projectile will cause enemies who are walking on the ground or
on the walls to stick to the surface they are on, rendering them immobile. The Goo-Ball
will be useless against flying adversaries. Another projectile, the Water Balloon, will be
best used against non-waterproof robots, causing their wiring to short-circuit. Heavily
548 Appendix A: Sample Design Document:Atomic Sam